Welcome to the mysterious world of renowned artist and designer Johny Dar.
A BLEAK street, gushing with the hustle and bustle of a Monday evening, was where this journey began.
Before me, a black nondescript door loomed. To us, the general public, the Dick Tom and Harrys, this door would have merely been another in a street of houses and shops. We would have just walked past (heck, I almost did) unaware of the exclusive world that lie beyond the gateway. But, with the promise of an interview with a legendary designer turned artist, for one night I was granted entry. And with invitation in hand, this brooding door beamed me into the curious world of Johny Dar.
Before I knew it, I was sat in a lavishly decorated room of like minded individuals, eagerly awaiting the artist known as Johny Dar’s arrival, at Soho’s Blacks club. (Spoiler alert: due to issues with travel, he never did arrive that night. But thanks to the power of technology, that didn’t stop me from getting all the juicy details of his latest venture.) Across from me, tables were intricately ornamented with colouring books, leaflets, all of the elusive artist’s creations, and coloured pencils for us to use while we wait for his The future starts now event, for London fashion week, to start.
Buzzing with the thrills of London fashion week, the room quickly became the host to a sea of various people belonging to the world of fashion and arts. Every nook, every cranny, was filled with a beaming face, enthralled with the mix of geometric images, and books. Directly in front of me, models were being caked in golden paint. To the left of me, Johny’s producer Dan Vinci (clever pun there) lounged, unfolding the details of the mysterious artist’s latest work to those that were lucky enough to be there.
“Nothing that Johny does is straightforward,”
“Nothing that Johny does is straightforward; he always has new ideas. Every day we had a new track. His new alien rap, It’s like different movements. It’s hard to emulate,” he enthused. “But anyone from around the world can get his music.”
Around Dan, each member of Johny’s tight knit team was rushing about, desperately organising the artist’s showcase. But the overflow of people and decoration wasn’t just confined to that room. Even more rooms, spanning three floors of the tightly packed building, were injected with Dar’s iconic galactic style – intricate geometric paintings clung to the walls, golden models donning his famed body art ornamented each corner, even the lights in the basement projected images of the artist’s creations. It was like being inside a time capsule of the mysterious artist’s fruitful career.
From the tiny basement leaked the eclectic sounds of what Dan was describing earlier; Johny Dar’s latest venture – an album by the name of Dardelica.
Tectonic notes, sharp and bouncing, flooded from the room, and into our ears the robotic alien music escaped – a sound the fascinating artist would later describe as: “Emotional fireworks in the deep waters igniting you from places you didn’t know existed.” Complete with alien synthetics, and an unusual vocal, the music was like something out of a Doctor who episode – wild and engaging.
A few hours passed, and with them even more of an exclusive first listen to Dardelica was spilled from the tiny room below. The jangly tectonics were perplexing, unusual, and yet easy enough for the herds of people to dance to. As Johny revealed later, the crowd couldn’t help but dance because: “when you really dive into the final production of Dardelica, it’s safe to say you will find yourself in a place where you find yourself making the impossible possible within your own movement, body, and response to your own journey.”
There was some form of singing going on in-between the steady beats, but deciphering the lyrics was impossible, almost as if they weren’t in any human language. I wouldn’t actually get to speak to Johny until I was returned to the world outside of Blacks club much later. But when i finally did get in contact with the artist, he explained that the odd vocals showcased that night were indeed a new language he had created. “We decided to call my vocals ‘alien-rap’, which is an original language that I am introducing through Dardelica,” he confirmed. “It’s alien to humans… For lack of better terminology, ‘alien rap’ seemed to be the most fitting name to give people a sense of it… the actual language isn’t called ‘alien rap’, but we needed a way of describing and referencing it… ”
“I needed to sacrifice my career to find the remedy for the ache of my heart,”
As Johny told me a few days after the event, he would be more than happy to teach anyone his language. “Finally I decided to do so, since it has been so beneficial to me and my own growth. It just would be too selfish to keep it for myself…” he elaborated. “I have a book coming out and an entire exercise that is focused on this. To be able to learn this language you have to be able to bring the sound from your bone to your flesh, and emanating through your skin – you get it?”
The sounds of Johny’s alien music faded out yet another few hours later, and it was clear the event was drawing to a close without its creator. Far into the early hours of the morning, the doors that had beamed me into Johny’s intriguing world eventually released me back into the streets of London, and home again. But the journey didn’t end there.
The symmetrical images of geometric art, that had clung to the walls of Blacks club so tightly, were still imprinted in my mind.
How did he get the hand drawn designs so intricately perfect? And, for that matter, how did he even come up with these designs?
“It actually was a long process,” Johny told me. “It needed to be precise …. this is because the geometric shapes are designed to act like digestive enzymes. You ingest them through the visual and they assist you in digesting your experiences. When you eat food, for instance, your body absorbs what is necessary and deposits the rest, but when you watch a movie you can’t necessarily digest it the same way. A part of your brain experiences the movie as reality, whilst another part of your brain knows its just a movie. But there is an intelligence that enables you to digest the movie experience…making room for the next experience, the same way you make room to enjoy your next meal. IQ-ME essentially works like a digestive aid, which helps you to digest your experiences and make room, which enhances your ability to respond to what life brings your way without feeling overwhelmed or too slow. The book will explain it further…”
“Humans destroy in order to create,”
“I came to it within the process of coming to understand what we call ‘alien rap’. In my work I am focused on adjusting the human perspective from its focus on the need to destroy to be able to create, and instead bringing it back to nature and applying nature’s method to create. Usually, humans destroy in order to create: we cut the tree to make the chair. My work comes from the motivation to add to creation, and involves dismissing the need to destroy as a part of the creation process, by understanding the secrets behind the perfection in nature’s imperfection. My mission with art became about discovering the harmonious natural growth pattern that occurs in nature all around us, from the breaking of the waves on the beach to the leaves on the tree, and what links all of it together in the collective canvas of life. When I draw, I don’t know the form I am drawing until I am done following a spiralling growth pattern – it’s an organic process in that sense, building the form through the pattern that naturally emerges. I am hoping to inspire humanity to create without destroying, which is crucial for the generations to come, because the way we are going about it we are just destroying the present creation in order to create another one…”
Obviously, the crazy world of Johny Dar was too rich and complex to be completely contained within the walls of The Future Starts Now event that night. And luckily, when i was finally able to talk with the man that punctuates with emojis, the intergalactic journey into what I would call Planet Dar wouldn’t just end when the doors of Blacks club shut.
And here for you now, as an extra bonus for coming along with me on this journey, are my findings from this cosmic exploration.
As I understand, you’ve had your fashion label since 1999, and in 2002 you took a hiatus from the industry. Would you be open to telling me why you took the hiatus, and how did it help your work?
I took it because I came to realise that the career that I had been building in fashion was forcing me to become a sell-out to the industry very quickly. I had to make a brave decision that 90% of my friends thought I was crazy to make: turn my back on the career that I worked so hard to create. But it was a point where the artist within me was dying and my heart was aching, and I needed to sacrifice my career to find the remedy for the ache of my heart…
Also, how has your fashion evolved since 1999?
Good question. I remember I had an interview with Women’s Wear Daily and they asked me what inspires me in creating my collections and I answered ‘undressing the body and dressing the soul’ – and the journalist looked at me wondering what kind of drugs I was on. I kept wondering why I said that… it’s only now I find myself at a point where I can actually deliver the concept – and deliver clothing that unleashes a whole new you that you didn’t know was possible. I am committed to making this dream a reality but it has been difficult with these kind of creations since there is a process around patenting and protecting my design formulas that is necessary. But I am finding ways…
Speaking of inspirations, as I understand you don’t have any specific people that inspire your music. In which case, what do you find inspires your sound?
Again, it’s connecting what hasn’t been connected. Playing the strings that lie dormant in our own bodies… making them heard again… awakening the possibilities that are hidden internally.
Your work in fashion has been well renowned, and you have a prevalent fashion career. Why did you journey into music as well, may i ask?
Again, I am an artist that swore never to create art for money as a commissioned artist. My creations come from the need to fill a gap or express a response that builds up internally to what life throws at me. Music now, maybe spaceships tomorrow, if that is necessary. Since I was a child, if I dreamed of doing anything, that would have been being on stage and entertaining. Also, funnily enough, I remember being on Manhattan beach prior to my hiatus and my friend asked me – what do you really want to do? I wanted to create a band and be a rockstar…
You have collaborated with the likes of Jessie J, Sir Elton John, and Harry Styles. Who would you say is your dream person to collaborate with?
James Cameron to collaborate with for making my trilogy film Darya – and Bjork, to collaborate with on stage with a ‘Before The World Ends’- tour, and Elon Musk to create a Johny Dar car that drives in the air.
Back in 2016, you introduced Dar time to the world. What pushed you to create your own new time?
I created a new time because I needed more time – this was my way of achieving it and I always wanted to work 24/7 – and now this is possible and I can still catch 8 hours of sleep… We all know the saying, 24 hours in a day just isn’t long enough. So why did you pick 32 hour days for your time specially? Because it is much prettier math than 24. One hour is 45 min- so you end up with 32 hours… you split the day to 4 eighths… and it really works…
Again in 2016, you created the Jeans for Refugees. Would you be able to tell me more about that, and why you created it?
I wanted to do something to help. It was a snowball effect. I had the idea and then many others jumped on board and together we created a movement of support. It’s ongoing as the situation is also. I just had to stop painting jeans at one point because I was damaging my hand. But what we have done so far is just the start of many more chapters of the project which will unfold.
And last but not least, what is next on the horizon for you?
See everything I have done as the tip of the iceberg, and watch the full iceberg emerge. Stay tuned…
